Glassman shoved down our throats???

I am not into politics. I do however, know right from wrong. Terminating Usama Abujbarah without cause is very wrong. The new Town Council has made a huge mistake with this vote. And they are making a worse mistake by shoving someone down our throats to replace him. Usama is a good man. A good friend I have known for years. He is a decent human being, who cares about our town and community. He was turning this town around after a rough period due to the downturn in the real estate market that affected many a town, throughout the country.

It seems to me, this new Council has an agenda, and mostly for personal gain. I do not know Adam Trenk or any of his cohorts on the council, nor am I interested in meeting any such scum. The world is full of such self serving idiots, willing to ruin a good man's life and reputation as they did to Usama, then before the ink dries, are trying to hire what I understand is a close friend of Trenk as the new Town Manager. A politician no less. No other candidates? There would be many qualified individuals to take on this position if given a chance to apply. Why is Trenk trying so hard to blindside the citizens of Cave Creek, hiring his friend in the dark as he is? What is his plan?

And what about Usama? I would like to see the citizens of Cave Creek show their support for Usama, by stopping this insanity being forced upon us. We must stop this from happening. I would like to see the citizens of Cave Creek rise up, and demand answers, demand accountability, demand to know the motives of this new council and Adam Trenk.

Again, I do not like to be involved in politics. Most politicians are corrupt and I hate corruption. But, I would like to suggest a recall election, as soon as legally possible. Maybe now, the voters of Cave Creek have a better appreciation of who they voted in as Town Council.

Hani Saba
Concerned in Cave Creek

Presidential snooping

Back in 2001, most of us understood that when the World Trade Center fell, our rights to unfettered privacy fell with it. We knew that, in order to prevent future 9-11s, the government would have to amass huge amounts of phone records and email data. We’d expect our government to learn to read the difference between potential terror threats and imminent terror threats, and we understood that they’d be combing through everybody’s business, in order to keep us safe. Today, no one would be happy if the Boston Bombers were still at large, kept free because the President was afraid to snoop, afraid to wiretap, afraid to wade through the personal communications of ordinary citizens. No, we simply wanted the Boston Bombers caught. The post-911 snooping began under President Bush, and back then, Republicans were quick to claim that such infringements were a small price to pay for safety against terrorism. Most of us learned to assume that everything we do on the Internet is probably viewable by one security agency or another, and figured that in an age where a faceless, stateless enemy can strike, kill thousands, disappear and strike again, we might as well get used to a bit of Big Brother treatment.

But now, we have a different President, a President that Republican lawmakers have vowed to undermine at every turn, vowed to thwart whenever possible, even if what he does is exactly what they would do. Hence, we get Fox New’s shrill Freedom Cry: “How dare the president snoop!”

Save our children?

California Senator Diane Feinstein is proposing an AR-style rifle ban to save our children. Yet with the 40th Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, she doesn’t mention the 54 million abortions conducted in this country nor show remorse for this disrespect for human life. Speeches at every Democratic National Convention reference abortion or a pro-life platform to huge cheers from the rabid convention hall audience. Mother Teresa identified the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because it is a war against children, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. If a mother can kill her own child and then tell young people not to kill one another, it is the ultimate hypocrisy in the eyes of the young.

Feinstein and her cohorts are using the Sandy Hook tragedy as a first step to trash out Second Amendment right for law-abiding citizens to own and bear arms as a defense against tyranny. they believe that abolishing our Second Amendment is necessary for President Obama as described in his Boulder, Colorado July 2, 2008 speech to create a “Civilian National Security Force that would be just as powerful, just as strong, and just as well funded as the U.S. Military.” The national security objectives described by Obama define a brutal totalitarian government modeled after the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.

The claim by some politicians that trashing the Second Amendment is necessary to save lives is deplorable. Without the Second Amendment to serve as a shield to protect our Constitution, the next to fall is the First Amendment followed by the Fourth and then the rest. Lawmakers take an oath of office to protect our Constitution, not destroy it.

Accurate and telling ...

How many of you have noticed that since it is now painfully obvious that "Obamacare" is nothing short of a monumental boondoggle of epic proportions, the administration of Barack Hussein Obama has reversed course and is now once again referring to it as "the Affordable Care Act?"

The removal of Obama's name is a veiled, panicked attempt to separate the Tyrant-in-Chief from his responsibility for the implementation of this intrusive, unwieldy, overly expensive, unwanted program which stands on the verge of destroying the finest health care system the world has ever seen.

Thank you! They listened ...

Great news! The House listened to you! Friday afternoon, with a 195-234 vote, Representatives rejected the big, bloated welfare bill known as the Farm Bill. Leading up to the vote, we knew that it would be very close – but your calls and emails made the difference!

A very big THANK YOU goes out to every single one of you who got involved. Thank you for calling and emailing your House members. This is a huge victory for free market conservatives, and it’s thanks to your efforts.

With this defeat Congress can go back to the drawing board, and create food and farm policy that works for Americans. Your efforts helped make this victory possible. Thank you!

In Liberty,

Tim Phillips
President of Americans for Prosperity

P.S. It doesn't stop here, now is the time to call on Congress to cut other wasteful spending.

APS intimidation

I continue to receive reports of the intimidation and abuse of customers by APS.

I first brought this disgraceful APS practice to your attention 3 ½ months ago in a letter dated March 2, 2013. Yet I continue to receive reports from customers who are met with intimidation when they call APS to say they do not want a radiation emitting surveillance device, AKA “smart” meter, on their property.

APS tells callers they will be charging huge fees – $75 upfront plus $30 – when no such fees have been approved by you!

Don't you think the mention of the huge fees is a form of intimidation and therefore an “abusive business practice”? Why have you done nothing about it?

According to A.R.S. 40-202.C.1 you have a duty to:

“Protect the public against deceptive, unfair and abusive business practices, practices related to deposit requirements and reconnection fees, intrusive and abusive marketing, deceptive or untrue advertising practices and practices prohibited under subsection H of this section.”

Here are just two examples of the kinds of customer reports I receive.

Customer called APS and requested an “opt out”. She was informed by APS Customer Care that the time limit for applying for an “opt out” had expired and that she would have to pay a $75 initial fee and $30 per month to “opt out”. She was told this fee structure is APS policy.

A man in his 80s has been trying for several months to “opt out” of a “smart” meter and keep his existing analog meter. He was told by APS that unless he accepted a smart meter installation on his home by June 3, his electricity would be turned off.

Like I said, disgraceful.

In my opinion, APS should be prosecuted. At the very least, you should issue a press release informing people that no “opt-out” fee has been approved by the ACC, and warning people not to be taken in by any utility's misinformation.

China buying U.S. companies

Chinese companies spent $6.5 billion to purchase U.S. companies in 2012, which broke the previous record of $5.2 billion in 2010. It appears the Chinese acquisitions of U.S. companies could exceed $10 billion in 2013.

In May 2013 Shuanghui International agreed to purchase Smithfield Foods. Smithfield is the world’s largest hog producer with 460 farms and contracts with 2,100 others across the U.S.

Will the hog supply be diverted from the U.S. to feed China’s burgeoning population? Will China’s poor food safety record and the manufacture of low quality products impact Smithfield’s operations?

Hopefully, Midwestern states will be able to block the sale with laws that prohibit foreign ownership of farmland.

A Chinese consortium purchased International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC), which owns and leases over 1,000 aircraft and has relationships with many airlines. In 2012 Chinese companies purchased AMC Entertainment, one of the largest movie theater chains in the U.S.

The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment should deny Chinese acquisitions if they impact our national security or our country’s economic well-being.

We the people

Now is the time, more than ever, for us, The People, to act and let our Congressperson hear our voice. The IRS' recent incident is a catalyst that We must use to remove unfair taxes imposed on us, The People. In fact, we should remove the IRS from the tax picture as it is only used for political and social control.

Tell Congress to remove federal income taxes including personal, estate, gift, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes by supporting FairTax bills H.R. 25 and S122. FairTax is the only proposal in the Weighs and Means Committee that repeals the 16th Amendment and removes the IRS.

Please contact your Representatives telling them you want FairTax. For more information, and to check this information out, go to fairtax.org, or search for FairTax in your favorite search engine.

Do you have something to say?

Letter to the Editor Policy:Sonoran News welcomes letters on any topic. They may be edited for clarity and length, and will be published on a space available basis. Letters must include your name, address and a daytime phone number for verification purposes. E-mail your letters to: sonnews@aol.com, or mail to:
Editor, Sonoran News,
6702 E. Cave Creek Rd., Ste. 3
Cave Creek, AZ 85331

Sonoran News strives to publish a letters page that is exclusive. Generally, we will not knowingly print a
letter that has been submitted to another publication for printing.